Update: This video is no longer available. You can still find the video for Jerk on Youtube. At the start, the single Mean Is The New Black from Stephie Coplan and The Pedestrians (January 2013) comes off sounding pedestrian and formulaic, but Stephie obviously knows how to add some great complexity to her pop-rock anthems. By the time the song kicks in, you realize there is much more here than standard pop fluff. Everyone knows that if you want to find your way in the music business, you have to find a way to invent yourself and your music in a way…
Read MoreI want to be perfectly clear on this one: I love everything about this song! The tune, the instruments, the vocals and the video, all perfectly executed. Done up in the vein of an old silent movie, Fields of June is from the September 2012 2-song single with the same name by Emily Barker And The Red Clay Halo (featuring Frank Turner). Emily Barker And The Red Clay Halo make mostly traditional folk music, but they make it…
Read MoreSpringtime from Erland and The Carnival’s March 2011 long-player, Nightingale, is both beautiful and eerie. Intimating darkness-even death, Erland and The Carnival highlight the darkness by the falling dirt and crawling cockroaches, blending this with a beautiful minor-key melody. Combining disparate pop and folk influences, Springtime, is a story complete with loss, longing and orchestral flare. While Erland and The Carnival have an extensive web site (social links included), there is little information about the band itself. Take a listen to this great…
Read MoreStraight-up party blues-rock is served up in style with Crankshaft And The Gear Grinders and Earthquake Shake from the February 2013 long-player, What You Gonna Do? Blues and rock are only part of the bands repertoire. They borrow heavily from other styles as well to get a totally fun and unique sound. Alex Larson (a.k.a., Crankshaft) has been making tunes to move your feet to for many years, but it wasn’t until 2010, that he decided to quit his construction…
Read MoreThere is something indescribable about the sound of Philadelphia, PA alterna-odd-folk duo, Norwegian Arms. Here on Tired Of Being Cold from their January 2013 long-player Wolf Like A Stray Dog, the band journeys to a far off land and falls into a bucket of magic mushrooms-or so it would seem. The music that came out after was accomplished, interesting, listenable, psychedelic-and odd. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, this is “odd” in a very good way. On the…
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